Continuous brick-molding machine



Jan. 2, 1923.

c. H. Buss; v v CONT INUOUS BRICK MOLDING MACHINE;

msn JAN. 21, 1921. a SHEETSSHEET l.'

ATTORNEY- Jan. 2, 1923. 1,440,715, c. H. BLISS. CON'IINUOUSBRICK MOLDING MACHINE. FILED JAN. 27 192la SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J I INVENTOR z 4/ 1,440,715. 0. H. BLISS. CONTINUOUS BRICK MOLDING MACHINE.

Jan. 2, 1923.

3SHEETS-SHEET 3.

FILED JAN. 27,1921.

if z:

ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 2, 1923.

' HTE FATE CLYDE H. BLISS, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

CONTINUOUS BRICK-MOLDING MYACHINE.

Application filed January 27, 1921. Serial No. 440,286.

or cementitious mixture.

The chief object of my invention is to produce machine which, by performing automatically the following operations, will reduce to a minimum the laborincident to the production of bricks in great quantity, the

automatic operations being in their order;

a feed of the pallets to the flights; the discharge of the mixture onto the traveling pallets; the preliminary and graduated tamping of the mixture on the pallets between stationary dividing blades; the rolling of the mixture to definitely compress it into the forms; the scraping off of any surplus rolled material to standardize the size; the troweling of the face of the brick by a smoothing iron working with a film of water on its smoothing face; the stripping of the bricks on the pallets from the molds in such manner as to trowel the ends of the brick; and finally the cleaning spraying and washing of the fiipdits thus completing automatically and mechanically the cycle incident to the production and delivery of the molded brick on pallets to be conveyed to a drying apparatus.

Among the more my invention, are

1st: The provision of automatic means to feed the pallets onto the flights in advance of the hopper so that the mixture is received on the pallets and the brick is linished complete thereon.

2nd: The shaping of the temper to exert a graduated effect upon the mixture so as to bring it gradually to the level desired. preliminary to its final compression by the roller.

3rd: The insertion of a V-shaped scraper blade immediately behind the roller for the purpose of stripping cleanly any excess ma terial on the brick or molds.

4th: The provision of a stationary smoothing iron preferably having a film of Water fed to its working face so as most efdistinctive features of fectively to trowel and smooth the of the brick.

5th: The provision'of any suitable means for mechanically stripping the pallets from the flights in such manner as to cause the ends of the brick to be troweled.

6th: The mounting of the entire mechanism on a frame so that it can be transported and set up as a unit.

7th: The provision of novel means for top face compensating the wear of the flights as they travel over their guides on the upper level.

8th: The provision of. a collecting basin in the supporting frame for the collection of the spraying and washing liquid utilized to clean the flights; and

9th: The novel and improved design of the flights, each having its vertical slotted wall set in its center to avoid a tendency to tip.

. My invention further comprises the novel details of construction and arrangements of parts which in their preferred embodiment only are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my complete apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a planview of Fig. 1.

Fig. is a sectional view taken on the line 4- of Fig. 2.

Fig. is an enlarged detail view of the flights and pallets with the automatic pallet feed mechanism shown in elevation.

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the preferred type of flight.

Similar reference numerals referto similar parts throughout the drawings.

In the form illustrated my complete apparatus is mounted upon a structural bed frame formed by standard structural metal channels 1 suitably connected at their corners to form a rectangle upon the side of which are mounted end bearings 2 for the ranged: in pairs at; each end of the .trarue and the aligning sprocket wheels at each side drive an endless chain ttorn'ied of links 10. I flight which may be the L-sha md flight ll, as seen in F l to 3, but which isipreterably the 'lshaped liight 12 shown in Ft, Each flight comprisesayerticalwall 13*provided with a plurality of equi-distantly spaced slots 14-.- and a. Lnged either at one side of the flights, or in the preferred" form in 6; it is arranged centrally, the advantage otthelatter arrangement being that the pressure of the tampingi" and rolling; mechanisms will not tend to tilt or cook the flight. The several dividing; blades 15 are rigidly attached at their forward ends to a cross angle 16 which in turnisattached to a hopper it? contain' 101 the concrete or eenientitious mixture, ich hopper-is suit ably supported ever read by any suitable meansv (notshown) in rigid-relationshp with themechanism ontlie frame 1. At their'rear ends the several dividing blades are anchored to a sinootliingiron by being bolted; rivetted'or otherwise attaehed thereto, and this iron is attached by its endflanges 19 to angles 20 (see Fig. 2:) which areattached to the outside dividing blades. and in this manner-the several blades are properly and l'lgitlly' spaced and held in assembled relationship .i their front and rear ens At the left hand end otthe tli gyhts (see l li'm l), I. provide a. verticalpallet chute 21. which is preferably attached to thehopper Tll"but-may-haveanyfother suita le support. This chute is wider than theili ts and has therein a series;of superimposed pallets comprising each-a fiat bottom. boa-rdFafZ having transverse vertical end boards 23 'whichare held rigid thereon by inclined braces 2 The pallets iii-the chute are. supported'in part. by asllding; ngageuientoi the bottom board of the low rinostpallet: on tll'o eud boards otlf the palletresting on and moving with the. rlizght'beneath the chute, and-in part by the latches Qo'nornially pressed into the chuteby flat spriu I engage support the bottr i heart i i it and each, of these latchei pendenttail-piece iif wb ch' is disposed al -l to be engagec fppedby the incoiningil 'ht. wh ch. ted in a mores.

pallet'into position on the flight below the. chutev and asisoon this flight hasmoved substantiallythe latches are released and are again moved by their sp-r into position to 'cooperateiw th the moving pallet last de posited on the .i--,,;hts1t0 support the pallets aboverit in. tile ohnte Iii-this, manner/the To each link suitably connected a,

pallets are'autoinatically fed tot-he flights and the flights thus pass: into position below the hopper with the pallets resting thereon.

The hopper 17. isprovided with a bottom opening inclined in the direction of the travel of the fiigl'its and this opening is flanked on either side by side guide walls of wingsQS which are formed as parts of the forward ends of the outside dividing blades 15 but which need not beintegralwith' such dividing blades. These side wings 28 slope inwardly and slant downwardly iron'r the hopperso as to it'orrnguide for the unpacked material asit flows by gravity onto the pallets from the" hopper 17. This ma.- terial first acted upon by a tamping mechanism which will now be described.

The tamping mechanism comprises a transverse tamping plate comprising a horizontal base portion 29, an upwardly inclined body portion 30, and an upwardly curved end: edge 31; the latterbeing pro-- vided with lugs or cars 32 between which the lower end of apitman rod 38 is pivoted. The upper: end of this rod-8S is connected. to an overhead crank 3& dr ven by a crank shaftv 35 having any suitable supportand'driven by any suitable source of power. The tamping plate is mounted fast on a shall; 3(3adapted to rock in bearing-s 37 attachedto the side of the main rollbr bearing frames 38 andwvill rock fro-n'rits lowermost position, shown in Fig. 2, to its upwardpositionshown incl ig. 1; ln'doing; this it; will: be: observed that the upwardly inclined body portion 30 ofthetamper will first tampmthe material. gradually.compressing. it as-the materialis fed to the righton the flights until it'ireachesthe portion 29 of the tamper where the maximum leverage and the greatest tamping pressure is es:- erted; The rolled edge 81 of the camping plate serves to. materially brace and strengthen its 't'orwa-rd edge at which point the power is applied. l-laving thus grad ually tamped the material down to a predoterininedievel the pallets are next caused to pass under a large compression roll 39 "fast ona shatter-0 whichturns in suitable bearings in the frames 38 which are men ed on the irulranic -l with 1 r to str e 1e This roller p aerial'fiush with the top of t n'iediately in the rear ot this roller larrange a \f shaped scraping blade l-lset to scra ieany excess material from the top of the molds and "lromtthe to p e? the flights, thus bringing the top faces of the finished bricks to a true surface. The scraping blade is at tached to the several dividing blades l5'and is heldfthereloy in position.

The smoothing mechanism comprises the platedS whiehzas shown is caused to gradset to compress *sloped towards one end' for drainage and this film of water, in vconjunction with the plate, will trowel off and finish the top laces oft-he brickywhich when they'leave the smoothing iron are'finished on their pallets ready to be removed. 'f 1 i In order to trowel or finish the ends of the brick and to remove them autom atically "from the flights, I provide an endless can rier 4: 1 disposed on upwardly inclined guides andhaving its rate of travel so proportioned to that-of the flights that it will gradually "lift the pallets successively from between the walls 13 ofthe-adjacent'flights.

with atrue parallel movement relatively to said walls andfin this manner the brick as they slip vertically between the walls 13 are troweled 'or'finished at'their'ends and leave the machine completejand troweled on all surfaces except the edge resting on the pallet.

After the pallets" have" been stripped from the flights, the" latter commence to' round the righthand sprocket \vheels3 and, in doing so comegsuccessivdy into position infront of a transversespray pipe disposed so to direct jetsof any suitable cleansing or lubricating fluid so as to wash and clean theflights and to lubricate the chains. This wasl1ing liquid is caught in atank46 which extends throughout the space within thetrame l' and is through anysuitable outlet, such as 457. I

The shaft is provided with asprocket 48 and the shaft for the right hand sprockets 3v is provided with a driving clockwise and the sprocket 4L8 counter-clock. wise, and both sprockets belng driven preterably from above by any suitable power means (not shown). l

' By reference o PJ- 1' Showing the l erred type of flight, it will. be observed that 1' provide at each end of'its slotted wall. 13 a notch which is intended to receive the lower edge of the adjacentoutside dividing blade 15 and thu hold them against 2 outwardly during the compacting are cut-down to clearthe auglesQll, which hrace the top edges of the outside division plates. and in this way each Wallis provided with ledges 51wrounded overhead and utilized to engage andtrip' the latches 25 which are disposed out' of the path of the main body portions of the walls 13. These ledges 51 and' grooves 50 are provided in the walls 13 of both styles of flights.

The operatz'oarl-Assuming the flights to p required. sprocket 49, the sprocket 4L9 'belng' dr ven I "what/I claim as new and desire to secure by ope a ions -The out-er ends of the walls 31 I formed by movable bottoms and ends coractbe driven, so-that. they move from left to right along their upper-"level andfthat the chute 21'is filled withpallets and the hopper 17 charged-witlrthe desiredmixturef the methodof manufacturing the bricks is-as follows. Aseach flight m'oves'into position undenthe pallet hopper 21; it receives itsrespective pallet and moves withit under the a hopper 17 fromwhich the'material or mixture falls onto the pallet, being subdivided material is brought under the tamping plate and is gradually compressed and then in turn is brought under thecompression roll and is rolled down to thetop level'o'f the by the division blades 15. '1;Asthe flights 'continue'to advance towards the right the division blades, after which the V-s'haped blade 41 scrapes andremoves any surplus material and the-pallets" advance under the smoothing iron jl8'wher'e {the top dress is given theibricks; after which the palletsare need from between the parallel flightkwalls f 13 and the end edges of the bricks a'reftr'oweled. The pallets", with'the finished'bricks, are conveyed oil? for subsequenttreatment' by conveyor 44 and theflights, after being .washed, arereturned to pallet receiving positi on. In all of this operation no manual labor is required except a general supervision of the machine and when there is'evi clence of any wear in theftracksi 6, upon which the flights travel, this is compensated for by the adjustment of the wedge blocks :7 under "the cross sup-porting I -beams The apparatus as a whole, with the exception of its overhead drive, hopper and chutepare self contained on thestructuraliron base 1 and can be handled;"transported and set as a unit. 1 Moreover, practically ally of the terial used in] the apparatus is of standard character so that but few special parts are Having thus 1 described my invention,

Letters Patent, is I 1-. In a continuous brick molding machine, relatively movable and stationary parts forming continuous brick molds; pallets forming bottoms for said u'iolds, means'to feed and compressmaterial in said molds,

lug with statioi'iary sides; means tofeed andd means acting" to compress material. in the molds, means to tween the end mold walls to trowel the" ends of the brick. I v

1trowel the top-"face oi. the brick, and] (:on- -veyor meansto strlp the brick-vertically belao compress material in the molds, and attendless moving conveyor disposed and operated means to strip the pallets -\V1tl1 the termed br1ck-thereon from the conveyor without cocking them.

5. In a continuous brick molding machine,

a conveyor, pallets thereon, means formin molds on the pallets, means to feed and commounted on the fl-i-ghts :hetween adjacent press material in the molds, and a stripping conveyor to strip the pallets from the con veyor, said strip-ping conveyor being synchronized in its movement withthe movement of the mold conveyor and disposedto strip the moving pallets vertically from the mold conveyor.

6. In a continuous brick molding machine, mechanism comprising movable and station ary parts forming traveling molds, meansto feed a mixture to the molds, and a common hinged tampmg bar exten ding the entire Width of the-machine for tampmg Sfl-lCtIZOfL- terial intothe mold, said tampingbar being inclined relatively to themoving moldsto graduallyperform its tamping dutyasthe molds approach it. Y l

7. A continuous brick molding machine in accordance with claim 6, in whichthe tamping bar is hinged and provided at its lower hinged end with a substantially horizontal portion and has its main bodyportion sloped upwardly away from the approaching molds, and reciprocating mechanism;

connected to the free end of the tamping bar.

8. In a continuous brick molding machine, moving molds, means to feed and compress material into the molds, a stationary smooth- .ing iron inclined in the'direction of travel of the molds for troweling the top face ofthe brick in the molds, and means to flow a film of Water over the under smoothing face of said iron.

9. In a continuous brick molding machine, a pallet conveyor composed of T; shaped flights having slitted vertical middle webs, and dividing blades workingin said slots. f

10. In a continuous brick molding ma chine, a pallet conveyor, rigidly mounted dividing blades setto work over the -moving pallets, flights on the conveyorjcom-pris in-g vertical slotted walls to receive said blades, means to feed, compress and level ace the material to form brickson the moving ipallets until-it=-1 novestromunderthechute 130 brick on the-pallets ,pallets, overhead connections to hold said blades in place, and means to "attach said levelling=means to the rear portions of said blades. I

11. In :a continuous brick molding machine, a plurality otflightsforming a traveling conveyor andhaving each a longitudinal slotted vertical wall, movable pallets'mounted on the flights bet'weenadjacent slotted walls, a seriesof dividing blades disposed to work in *said'slots, means to'rigidly an chor the torvvardendsot the blades, means to feed and compress material inthe molds,

.chine, a ;plurality of flights mounted on a "traveling conveyor andhaving-a longitudinal slotted vertical fwall, movable pallets slotted walls, ;a seri:e s of-dividing blades dis v-g os'e'd to Work-in #said slots, means torigidly anchor the forward ends of the-blades, means to teed and" compress material in; the molds, "a =V-shaped scraping blade rigidly moiunted on the blades near their 3 rear fends,-' and a final smoothing iron rigidly connected to the rear ends ofthe' blades. I

13. In a continuous brick -molding machine, a pallet conveyon a feed hopper, fixed blades working through the conveyor over the pallets and-comprising outside converging side-guide blades 'to form-a chute for the mixture delivered fro'm the hopper, and.

means to preliminarily tamp the 'material while between :saiddg'uide blades. 1

14:. :In a continuous hrick molding ma- ,chine,-traveling fii'ghtm pallets resting on the flights -With their-ends projecting-beyond the ends ofthe fiig'hts, means to =formbricks' onthe pallets, andan endless conveying and stripping means disposed to e'ngageithe ends I of e'the; pallets and strip them from the in line with thejtravelof the flights, there being slotsin" said flightwalls torthe passafge ofthelbladesand notch outs at the ends of said Walls -and hraces mounted lengthwise on the outside blades, and means to form -16.I11a continuous brick molding me.-

chine, moving flights a pallet chute, pallets I means to apply and remove pallets from the flights, means to form brickon said pallets,

a source of oilancl Water supply, and means to spray combined oil and ater through a series of jets against the flights and chains. after the removal of the pallets to clean and oil the flights.

18. A continuous brick molding machine comprising a traveling conveyor, Wearing v strips on which saicl conveyor slides; a main frame for supporting the machine, movable supports for theslicles, and Wedge means on the main frame for adjusting said supports. 15

In testimony whereof Laffix my! signature.

GL DE'H. uss."

Witness! i i I NOMIE W LsH; 

